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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Danner SoBo Boots Reviewed!

If you are learning about hiking or have been hiking for 20 years, the one constant about this passion of ours is boots. Boots, running shoes, footwear, socks, sock liners, laces, etc. These are the most important things of your journey because these ARE the things that will get you to your journey.

For years I had been hiking in lightweight La Sportiva Thunder Mountain II boots (that's a mouthful) until I hiked them into the ground. Because I am a lazy, lazy man I hiked the last year in my winter boots from Asolo TPS 520s which are tanks and fully broken in but heavy as all get out (technical term) and actually pretty slippery on stream crossings.

I needed to get back into the lightweight realm but as you saw above, I was really lazy. Thankfully Sierra Trading Post and Danner jump started me out of my laziness by sending me a pair of their lightweight SoBo boots through a contest.

SoBo sounds for "South Bound" a way of describing someone's trek on one of the great US trails (Appalachian Trail or the PCT). So far these boots feel up to that challenge.

The break in time, completely negligible. These boots felt smooth the minute I put them on. The tongue is thickly padded which is great for me and didn't cause rubbing at all. They run a bit small so I sized a half size up and that worked out although there was a bit of slamming of the toe on the toe box which I think can easily be solved by lacing them well.

The soles are not Vibram (the gold standard in grip and durability for soles) and seem to be Danner's own sole but they held up surprisingly well. Descending 900 feet in a mile, the grip was there on sandy and rocky soil

I became aware of Danner years ago when they won awards for their Crater Rim boots (boots till this day that I still covet mightily). So far with these SoBo boots, I am a fan of the Danner product and will be counting my pennies for the Crater Rims. Until them, I am lightweight hiking with the best of em!

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